Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

Gradually, the surrounding village buildings disappeared.

Tall trees and thickets of shrubs began to obscure their view, and the road undulated, soon causing Kaguya and Chika to lose their way and not know where they were.

Then, a cold, damp mist, like frantically crawling insects, spread from the woods, covering the surrounding environment and making everything even more blurred.

Will this be the last road that the Zhang family members who disappeared back then walked on?

Qianhua pondered various possibilities in her mind, and her steps became more cautious, but she always maintained a certain speed to avoid losing Li Xiaoxiao, who was walking in front.

Kaguya would occasionally turn her head to look at the corpses around her. She couldn't see any changes in their condition, but she vaguely felt that some kind of transformation had begun to accumulate in these things, but it was not yet clear enough to be seen.

Although she didn't actually feel anything, the naturally suspicious Kaguya couldn't completely put her mind at ease. So, after a brief moment of thought, she activated Eriko Asamoto's hearing enhancement blessing.

The blessing's coverage extends from behind Kaguya, reaching a maximum distance of about 3 kilometers. Within this range, the system carefully senses the surroundings, not missing any subtle anomalies.

At first, Kaguya was worried that she might be overthinking things, or that nothing might actually have happened.

But after repeatedly sensing it for a while, a discordant noise suddenly entered her perception.

rustle--

It was such a faint sound that even if you stood within a meter and were fully focused, you could still miss it.

It was the faint sound of stepping on dead weeds and branches, made with all its might as little as possible.

Such a sound is not made by animals stepping on things.

At such a moment, such a faint sound coming from behind her could not have been made unintentionally by any animal; she was confident she could discern the difference.

So, someone is behind you.

Someone is following them from behind!

Chapter 125: Dealing with the Stalkers and Arrival in the Abandoned Land

Someone is following us!

Kaguya frowned upon realizing this, but did not show any obvious emotional change.

It is certain that the other party is not a monster.

Any perception of a strange creature will inevitably produce a corresponding reaction; this is certain, given that the creature's information already possesses extraordinary power. Therefore, as soon as contact occurs, the player will immediately sense it, not to mention that Kaguya perceived it through the power of blessing, making such contact even more likely to trigger a reaction with the creature's power.

So, having ruled out the possibility of animals and ghosts, the last remaining possibility is a living person.

Is someone following us from behind?

Who could be tracking our team at this time and in this place?

The fog had completely enveloped the forest, casting an ethereal hue over everything around it.

In the pervasive fog, the staggering corpses of the surrounding villagers became indistinct, some disappearing into the mist and others emerging. Due to the reduced visibility and blurred vision, Kaguya and Chika couldn't even tell if the corpses around them had changed from before.

Why did a stalker have to appear at this particular time?

Without hesitation, Kaguya immediately informed Chika, Takami, and Goto Ichiri, who was in the village, through the mental link of her black watch. Chika, in turn, immediately activated her blessing power. After spending some time investigating, she also used her auditory blessing to locate the footsteps and confirm the person following her.

{Is it possible that he's a survivor from Li Family Village, like Li Ziyong? After all, Gao Jun said he couldn't confirm whether this villager was alive or dead during his third playthrough.}

During the mental link, Kaguya was the first to propose her own conjecture.

{It could also be a member of the [Treasure Hunters], but if it were a player, they should be able to detect that they are being sensed and would react. However, Chika can still detect the footsteps, which proves that the other party may not realize they have been discovered. No… maybe it's an act…}

Gao Hai was still somewhat hesitant, and he wasn't entirely sure of his own thoughts. As he spoke, he fell into deep thought again.

{Regardless of who they are, their covert tracking of us is definitely not a good sign. However, we can't easily give up the leads we've already obtained. Perhaps we can set a trap. Once they reveal themselves, if they are indeed enemies, we can immediately seize the initiative and eliminate them in one fell swoop!}

Chika skipped the process of guessing the other party's identity and turned the topic to countermeasures.

Regardless, now that a problem has been discovered, it cannot be ignored. Neither Kaguya nor Chika are indecisive by nature; both are prepared to face the enemy and kill them, and simultaneously relay this information to Gao Hai on the Liu Family Village side.

{Are there human stalkers appearing in Zhangjia Village? Please provide coordinates.}

Then, Gao Hai gave this reply almost without thinking.

{Are coordinates all you need?}

{Directly behind my location, at a distance of 2.3 kilometers, with an error margin of no more than 10 meters to the left or right}

Chika actually wanted to see who it was first, so she hesitated slightly after hearing this, while Kaguya gave the coordinates without hesitation.

Okay, just a heads-up for Li Xiaoxiao, I'm about to begin.

The next moment, accompanied by Gao Hai's calm voice in the mental link, the power of blessing began to be mobilized.

hum-

A suffocatingly powerful aura spread out in an instant.

Li Xiaoxiao, who was walking at the front, was slightly taken aback. She turned to look behind her, and then, after hearing the explanation given by Kaguya and Chika through the temporary mental link, she was stunned and didn't know how to react.

Immediately following, a bomb with a very Showa-era design appeared out of thin air beside Kaguya, then flew into the sky and sped toward the coordinates she had given, creating a violent sonic boom.

Second bomb, activated.

The designated immune subjects were Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, Li Xiaoxiao, and the corpses of the villagers who followed Li Xiaoxiao.

In fact, given that the distance had already exceeded two kilometers, there was no need to specifically designate an immunization target. However, Gao Hai was worried that this unknown stalker might have some powerful methods, so he still made a special designation and, at Qianhua's suggestion, also included the villagers.

In the blink of an eye, the bomb had completely disappeared from the players' sight and hit its target location.

The first thing to rise was the burning cloud of fire.

boom! ! !

Then came the sound of a violent explosion.

The scorching air currents swept through the forest, uprooting trees and swirling them into the gale.

The pervasive mist was forcibly dispersed by the shockwave and gale, revealing its original form.

Under the raging flames, large swathes of land turned charred black, and a deep crater was blasted out of the center of the explosion.

Even players two kilometers apart were hit by a gust of hot wind, covered in dust, fallen leaves, and debris. The villagers' corpses were also blown about, many falling to the ground before struggling to their feet.

As for the stalker's situation, there's no way to know for the time being. After all, even if one were to use the power of auditory blessings at this point, all one could hear were the crackling and popping sounds of things being burned; there was no way to discern any other sounds from them.

{I can feel the power even from this distance; I wonder if this attack can eliminate the opponent?}

Chika patted the dirt and dust off her hair and spoke in the mental link.

I wonder if this will work. If it were a player, they might still be able to take action and try to survive.

Kaguya was still a little uneasy, so she turned to look at Goto Ichiri's clone and asked for help through the mental link. Then, the clone put on sunglasses, nodded slightly to Kaguya, and then ran towards the direction of the explosion as fast as a husky let loose.

Li Xiaoxiao had already turned her head away and continued walking forward.

Even knowing that someone was following him and witnessing a giant bomb explode in front of him, the player didn't react much, seemingly indifferent to such things.

Her attention had completely shifted to the direction she was still being guided towards, a direction she hadn't yet reached. She seemed oblivious to everything else, no longer caring about or thinking about anything else. Frankly, this change was almost like being possessed or hypnotized, causing Kaguya and Chika, who were following behind, some worry. But having already come this far, giving up now was too much to bear, so they continued walking silently, following the player's every move.

I could feel that the distance to the source of the aura in front of me had shortened.

The opponent's movement speed seems to be slowing down.

So, is it finally coming?

Kaguya noticed the change in the situation ahead and knew that things might be different here, so she became even more vigilant.

Chika was still communicating with Goto Ichiri through their mental link. The clone controlled by Goto had already arrived at the bomb's blast zone and was currently searching for any possible enemy traces amidst the burning ruins.

Even considering that the bomb was fired directly at the location targeted by the Blessing, meaning that if there were anyone there, the intense heat and shockwave from the explosion's epicenter should have instantly vaporized them, it's still necessary to send a clone to investigate, given that neither Red Moon-level players nor monsters are so easily killed.

{Nothing was found... um... no suspicious traces were found, and there was no sign of human activity within the blast area.}

About ten minutes later, Yili reported through the mental link. She repeatedly adjusted the investigation area of ​​her clone using the power of the guitar, carefully searching the explosion area several times, but still found nothing.

If you really come up empty-handed, come back. Stick with Kaguya and Chika. If there really is someone there, their target will definitely be the players in front, and they'll certainly take action.

Gao Hai earnestly advised in the mental link, then, because his investigation into the [Bottomless Lake] had entered a critical stage, he was temporarily unable to focus his energy on Kaguya's situation, so he gave a few more final instructions.

Chika could tell from Gao Hai's voice that he was still very worried. Just as she was thinking of saying a few words to comfort him, Yili had already controlled the clone to run back and quickly caught up with the group, rejoining everyone's actions.

The fog reappeared.

After being dispersed momentarily by the wind whipped up by the bombs, the eerie white mist reappeared and gradually spread through the woodland.

As the fog reappeared, Li Xiaoxiao, who was at the forefront, quickened her pace, and the strange creature that had been keeping a distance in front of her also closed the gap at this moment.

{This is……}

Finally, something different appeared in front of my eyes.

Those were ruins of a dilapidated village.

It is a village that has stood the test of time and has been abandoned for a long time. It is a small village located in the valley next to the [Water Ghost Lake].

{Does the core obsession connected to Zhangjia Village ultimately point to this place?}

Despite having made many guesses about this fourth core obsession before, Chika was still somewhat surprised that it would eventually circle back to the abandoned village in the initial space. Especially considering the situation of the Liu family and the agreement that Li Xiaoxiao mentioned with the runaway members of the Li family, she couldn't help but wonder if the connection between the Zhang family and the Li family was actually quite close.

{It's right here, right here!}

Li Xiaoxiao stopped and let out a long breath before whispering to Kaguya Chika.

At this point, it was difficult to determine her exact state. We could only say that, at least in terms of her aura, she was still a human being and not a monster, but it was hard to predict how far her mental transformation had progressed.

However, she had no intention of continuing to waste words. After saying a sentence in the temporary mental link, she continued to move forward and stepped directly into the village ruins ahead.

This time, Kaguya and Chika did not catch up with Li Xiaoxiao immediately.

They looked around. The still, mirror-like Ghost Lake lay beside the village ruins, seemingly unaffected. But the place where Li Family Village should have once stood was now a primeval forest, devoid of any trace of human activity.

This doesn't seem to be the initial space, but rather a place that is similar but not actually the same.

Even so, they still couldn't bring themselves to easily step into the abandoned village ahead.

Back in his third playthrough, Gao Hai had already confirmed the existence of this abandoned village by manipulating the power of the land deed. Based on the information in the deed, Gao Hai determined that the abandoned village was a [trap space], where players would be teleported to an unknown space once they stepped inside. Gao Hai couldn't see the specifics of that space from the deed, only knowing that it was filled with chaotic distortions and a suffocatingly cold aura, making it an extremely dangerous place.

But now, the clues from Zhangjia Village point to this abandoned village, a mysterious abandoned village that has yet to be explored and understood by players.

Kaguya then thought of another space that Goto Ichiri was in charge of at the time—a space filled with graves, a space where only death existed. The entrance to that space was on the border of Li Family Village in the initial space; it was also a trap space that could select specific players and throw them into it, then kill them through an invisible death intent.

The land deed designated that space as "The End of Zhangjia Village." Although this information was set by the people of Lijia Village themselves, it still reveals a lot. The connection between Zhangjia Village and Lijia Village is likely much closer than anyone previously imagined. Has this family, which outwardly avoids taking sides and tries to remain neutral, truly achieved neutrality? And what exactly is the nature of their relationship with the Li family?